


Stranded

by Choni_Beronica



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:26:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28966806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Choni_Beronica/pseuds/Choni_Beronica
Summary: The girls were just trying to take a fun trip, but things took a turn for the worst. A raging storm destroyed the boat leaving them stranded on debris to be pushed ashore to safety. And this is where our story begins.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Veronica Lodge, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to Archive, but I hope that you like my writing. I mainly create stories for Glee and Riverdale. You can also find me on Wattpad @NayaLopierce. Stranded will be turned into a series of books so I hope you like them. Enjoy and start reading.

**Cheryl POV**

My legs had to keep moving or I would die. As I looked around all I saw was red.

"Toni!" I yelled over the slapping of the waves.

As I fought to stay above the water, I could see pink hair floating on the surface. I began breathing heavily as I saw fins poke out of the water near me. I heard a gasp behind me as a slim body shot out of the water.

"Veronica!" Her body spun around in the water so that I could see her face. "Where's Betty and Josie?"

"I don't know!"

"Help me get Toni!" I shouted over the wind.

Veronica moved swiftly over the growing waves. My eyes widened as a black fin came out of the water behind Veronica.

"Don't look back!" I screamed across the water.

"What!?"

"Swim faster!" I shrieked

I tried desperately to hide the fear in my voice. As Veronica approached me, I saw two figures at a distance. As the waves brought them closer, I could tell that it was Betty and Josie on a raft. I twisted around, as I heard splashing behind me. The raft zoomed past as they went towards Veronica.

"Get her! Get her! Get her!" I cried out in panic.

As they got closer to her, I saw her body disappear under the water. I suddenly realized it was black tips. They were trying to pull Veronica to a watery grave.

"Is Betty ok?" I yelled at Josie.

"No, I found her passed out!"

"Josie! You need to get Veronica out of the water right now! There are sharks! Get her out! Please!"

I saw fear fill Josie's eyes as she realized what she had to do.

"But Cheryl-"

"Josie, I swear to god, get her out or I will feed you to the sharks!"

Josie gulped and nodded at me. She stood up in the raft and investigated the water.

"Cheryl, there are sharks!"

"Yeah, I know Sherlock Holmes! But, would you rather our best friend and Betty's girlfriend die or save her, and Betty not kill you?" I sarcastically exclaimed through the sheets of rain. "I need to get Toni before the sharks get her too!"

"Ok! I'll do it, but you owe me bombshell!"

I chuckled at the nickname and rolled my eyes at her. "Fine! Whatever floats your boat!"

"Cheryl, considering the situation that we're in, that probably isn't the best phrase you could use right now!"

"Just get her!"

Josie nodded at me and closed her eyes for a moment. As I saw her dive into the water, I turned around and searched for Toni in the choppy waves. Pink hair surfaced near me and I let out a sigh of relief. Suddenly, I fearfully turned around and once again was relieved. I could see Josie pulling a barely conscious Veronica out of the water. Her leg was covered in blood as Josie pulled her over the side of the yellow raft. I quickly twisted around and yanked Toni towards me by the arm.

"I got Toni!" I shouted at Josie as they made their way towards me.

Unexpectingly, I felt a sharp pain tug me under the water. It felt like a weight was pulling on my arm as Toni slipped beneath the surface beside me. Frantically, I grasp for air hoping to pull myself up. Rapidly kicking my legs was the only thing keeping me just below the surface. I felt air fill my lungs as Josie strongly pulled me upwards out of the water. With the little strength I had left, I pulled Toni up into my arms and moved her closer to the raft.

"Get Toni on the raft. I'll be right behind her."

Josie nodded and lifted Toni out of my tired arms. She disappeared over the side of the raft as she set her down beside Betty. I heard a thump as she collapsed from exhaustion. I grabbed the lip of the raft and heaved myself over the side. Somebody with slender fingers grabbed my hands and pulled me the rest of the way. The pain that was in my leg earlier returned with a burning sensation. As I looked around, I could see blood filled water surrounding the five us.

"Cheryl..." Veronica trailed off.

"What, Ronnie? "

"Look at your leg."

"What about my leg?"

"Just look."

I sighed and looked at my leg to see a small chunk missing out of my leg. Blood gushed out of it as I attempted to move it. Starting to panic a little, I reached my hand out as I signal for Veronica to grab it.

"Bitch, did you fucking bite me!?"

"What! No! Cheryl, it was a fucking shark dumbass."

I nodded slightly as I felt my head drop onto Veronica's thigh. I heard muffled voices as I drifted into unconsciousness. My last thought was what we were and what I thought we would forever be. _Stranded_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Toni's POV**

My eyes fluttered open at the sound of a deep roll of thunder and the crack of lightning. Fear coursed through my body as I tried to grab the closest thing to me, which just happened to be an unconscious Betty. I looked around and saw Josie with her eyes closed but not unconscious, Veronica sitting up with her back on the side of the raft, and Cheryl, with her head resting on Veronica's thigh. For a moment I thought she was just resting, but then I realized that she would be freaking out right now due to her fear of water and sharks. Knowing this, I came to the realization that she had passed out.

"Why did you put my ass on that yacht?" I angrily growled as some of the fear left my body.

"Toni, do you seriously think that if we knew that this was going to happen, we would've taken this damn trip?" Veronica glared at me.

"Stop telling me what to do, Veronica. I'm scared, okay. Leave me alone." I hissed at her. "I need Cheryl, not you."

"Toni, I know but Cheryl's passed out while Josie and I are fully awake."

I look away from her for a second, but a strike of lightning sends my body into panic mode and I lunge at Veronica desperate for even the little warmth of a body. Tears stream out of my eyes as the sky lights up with lines of lightning. I wrap my arms around Veronica's waist and push my face into her side. I felt her arms around me and something within me knew everything was going to be okay.

"I'm scared." I whimpered into her. 

Even though my voice was muffled by the rain and her soaked shirt, I guess she could hear me, because I felt her lean down and rest her head on top of mine. 

"Try to get some rest, okay?"

I nodded slightly as I tried to drown out the storm. I tightened my grip on her waist and pulled my entire body next to hers as I shoved my face as hard as possible into her side. As another deep crash of thunder pierced the rain, I let out a cry of terror. Tears cascaded down my face as Veronica pulled me closer to her side. I jumped at the feeling of a body pressing into my back and hugging me tightly. At this point I didn't care who it was, I was just happy that they were there. I twisted around in Veronica's grip and wrapped my arms around the person now in front of me. I dug my face into their chest and inhaled the salty ocean air with a hint of lavender.

"Betty?" I cried into her chest.

"Yeah?"

"Your awake." 

I sighed through my tears as I felt a wave of relief wash over me.

"I woke up a couple minutes ago, but I saw you and thought you needed somebody to fill in for Cheryl." 

I nodded my head not having the strength or voice to respond. I felt Veronica's arms leave my waist as Betty turned so that I was sitting in her lap. She pulled me close to her front as I snuggled up to her. She wrapped her arms around my chest and hugged me. As lightning struck once again, Betty moved one hand to my ear and pushed the side of my head to her chest.

"Just close your eyes and try to relax." She whispered softly in my ear.

I shut my eyes and listened to Betty's heartbeat. Oddly enough it matched the waves. _Boom. Boom. Boom._

"Guys. There's an island." Josie said to herself.

My head shot up as I looked around ignoring the storm.

"There's a fucking island!" Josie yelled.

I jumped off Betty and stood up to see the shore of a humongous island sitting right in front of the raft. As soon as Betty started to get up, I saw Cheryl move around and her eyes open shortly after. 

"Cheryl?" I said hopefully, awaiting an answer.

"TT?" 

Cheryl's peaceful face shot into a smile as she saw me. She tried to get up but failed which resulted in her tripping from the wound that was in her leg. I stumbled forward and wrapped my arms around her waist keeping her from hitting the bottom of the raft. The raft jerked as it hit the shore of the island very lightly. Josie stepped out of the raft and pulled it further up the shore until the raft was entirely out of the water. Josie helped Betty get Veronica out of the raft and onto solid ground while I on other hand was having trouble getting Cheryl on the sand.

"Toni," Betty yelled. "Do you need help?"

"Please!"

I hated sounding so desperate, but we needed to look at Cheryl's leg and get her out of the raft. Betty walked up behind me and draped one of Cheryl's arms over her shoulder while Cheryl's other arm was hooked loosely around my waist. Betty and I walked with Cheryl until we got to Veronica where we sat her down. 

"What do we do now?" Josie quietly said.

"I think," Betty paused for a moment to finish her thought. "That we firstly get the bags that washed up."

"Where?" I questioned, very confused about what she was talking about. "What bags?"

Betty pointed to the right of the raft where bags were scattered across the sand.

"Good point." I commented on her sight.

I started to trot towards the bags, but Betty grabbed my arm yanking me backwards into her.

"You need to say back here with them to make sure nothing happens."

"But Betty-"

"Toni, my girlfriend and your girlfriend just got bit by sharks. The least that you could do for your girlfriend is comfort her. She's probably terrified right now, because for one her leg is gushing blood, and for two, we're stranded in who knows where. You should at the bare minimum, tell her that we're going to be okay and that she's not going to die."

My mouth hung open at her words as it felt like I couldn't speak. I shut my mouth and just nodded not wanting Betty to get mad at me and not wanting to say something that could offend her. I walked towards Cheryl and dropped to the sand next to her which slowly started to turn a deep crimson as her blood spilled onto it. 

"Cher." I quietly said.

I grabbed her hand as she moved her head to look at me. I thought about how as a South Side Serpent we were taught how to stop the bleeding from a gunshot wound if needed. The difference was this wasn't a gunshot wound; this was a shark bite. But maybe the technique would work the same way.

"This is going to hurt a lot, but unless you want to get an infection this has to happen."

She nodded hesitantly, scared of what I might say.

"I need to put part of my shirt in the wound, okay?"

Her eyes widened as she silently shook her head no, too scared to say anything.

"Toni, please don't."

"Cher, I have to. If I don't you will get an infection and that could spread which wouldn't be a good thing considering we don't know how long, we could be here for."

Cheryl just looked at me for a second. 

"Can I at least grab your arm if I need to?"

"Sure, babe."

Cheryl just nodded which was my que to rip my shirt. I grabbed a section of my purple top and ripped down hard on it. It separated from the rest of the shirt as I balled it up in my hand.

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah." She whispered, terrified of what was to come next.

I didn't give her any warning as I shoved the shirt inside of the wound. Cheryl screamed and dug her long, red nails into my arm, leaving red welts. Tears streamed out of her eyes as blood in large amounts gushed out of her leg. As my purple shirt started to darken, the blood slowly started to die down to the point where it was no longer coming out. I heard the footsteps of Betty and Josie returning with our bags. Cheryl, still sobbing, tightened her fingernails on my arm which resulted in blood starting to run down my arm. 

"Is she okay?" Betty lightly asked.

"If your definition of okay, is getting attacked by a shark and then your girlfriend having to shove part of her shirt into your leg while you're fully conscious, well then yes, she is perfectly fine."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that." 

"I know. I'm just scared honestly."

"It's fine. I think we're all really scared." Josie and I nodded our heads in agreement. Even though we were stranded, a piece of me knew that with my friends there, we would be okay.


	3. Chapter 3

**Veronica's POV**

After Betty got done setting down the bags, a look of worry covered her face. She rushed over to me and knelt beside me.

"Josie, can you pull the raft up under the trees? Cheryl and Veronica need somewhere to lie down besides the sand."

"Sure thing." 

Josie left the small area that we were in and started to drag the raft up the sand. Betty sat down on the sand and pulled me up so that I was sitting in her lap. I leaned my head back onto Betty's chest and inhaled a deep breath as a cold wave of air rushed at us. 

"I don't like it." I whimpered as I snuggled into Betty.

"I know." Betty whispered into my head. "I don't like it either."

I shiver ran through my body as the cold intensified and the rain came down as if the sky was a waterfall. The storm was getting stronger by the minute and we at least needed to get under the trees for protection. 

"Betty, where do you want it?" Josie yelled at us as she dragged the raft up to the trees.

"Put it right there actually."

Betty pointed to a spot right where the sand ended, and the trees started. Josie nodded and set the raft under the trees. 

"I'm gonna pick you up so I can set you in the raft, okay?" 

I nodded in response as Betty picked me up bridal style. I buried my face in Betty's chest, desperate to block out the rain and cold that seemed like it had no end. 

"Toni, get Cheryl. We're gonna put them in the raft and just try to get some sleep."

"Sounds good to me."

Toni surprisingly lifted Cheryl up off the ground and carried her over to the raft. I closed my eyes and let my body relax. My body went limp in Betty's arms as I tried to push the sound of the waves away. My leg was still burning, but it subsided as rain continuously hit it. I waited for Betty to set me down in the raft, but she never did. I opened my eyes after a couple of minutes to see that Betty had sat down in the raft and I was sitting in-between her legs with my back up against her chest. I large gust of wind swept through the trees leaving me shivering even with Betty's warm body behind me. I closed my eyes again to fall asleep.

"Josie, can you get my hoodie out of my bag?" I heard Betty say softly, as she wanted to let me sleep.

"Which bag is yours?"

"The pink one."

Josie's only response was the sound of clothes getting moved around. All of sudden, Josie pulled a pink hoodie out of Betty's bag. 

"Is this it?" Josie questioned.

"Yep."

Josie walked over to us and handed Betty the hoodie.

"Thank you."

Josie sat down in the raft and wrapped herself in a black blanket. 

"Babe, can you sit up for a minute?" 

I kept my eyes closed as I leaned forward a little bit. Betty pulled the hoodie over my body. It was a little bit big on me, but that was fine. It warmed my body and that was all that mattered now. Betty grabbed my pillow and blue blanket out of my bag. She put the pillow on the bottom of the raft and laid down. Betty rested on her side and pulled me to her chest. She wrapped us up in the blanket so that we could stay as warm as possible. I grabbed Betty's hand under the blanket as she rested her head on top of mine. I pushed my body back so that it was flush with hers. I intertwined our legs together and rested my head on her chest. I felt myself start to drift off, but I wasn't comfortable. I turned around in Betty's arms and stuck my face in Betty's chest. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I let out a sigh.

"You seem to be pretty comfortable there, Ronnie?" Betty joked.

"Oh I am." 

We both giggled a little bit. 

"Goodnight, Betty. I love you."

I gave Betty a quick kiss as I buried my face back into her chest. 

"I love you too, Veronica. Goodnight"

I kept my eyes closed for a minute trying to sleep but then realized that I couldn't.

"Is everybody awake?"

"Yep." Toni and Josie said in unison.

"Cheryl would say yes, but she can't really talk right now." Toni lightly said.

I just felt Betty nod her head in response to my question.

"I can't sleep. I'm too scared to. My leg is also really bothering me so that isn't helping at all."

"Cheryl agrees." I heard Toni say from somewhere behind Betty's body. 

"I'm just gonna try to get some sleep. You guys should try to do the same. We can talk about our plan in the morning." I said over the pounding of the rain.

"I agree. Goodnight." Toni said just loudly enough for us to hear.

Nobody responded, but it was just because everyone was tired and didn't have the energy to. Betty pushed my head back into her chest and hugged our two fronts together. I closed my eyes again and let my body drift off to the world of sleep. Normally, I would fight it, but right now, I didn't have that fight left in me. I had lost the fight, for now.


	4. Chapter 4

**Josie's POV**

I awoke to the sound of light pattering as little drops of water hit the raft. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around for any trees that had fallen during the night. As I looked around, my eyes were blinded by sunlight streaming through the tops of the trees. I turned my head away from the light as I kept my eyes open so that they could adjust to the light. Surprisingly, none of the trees had fallen, but there were a lot of branches littering the forest ground. Looking back into the raft, I noticed that the other girls were asleep. We needed to get supplies and figure out what we were going to do about the situation that we were in, but I didn't want to wake them up. I slowly got up not wanting to make any noise in fear that they would wake up. Standing up, I carefully got out of the raft and put my blanket on top of Cheryl. She barely moved but it was enough to scare me into thinking that she was awake. I started walking past the tree line and into the beach area. A shiver went down my back as I watched the waves crash on the shore of the island, remembering what happened last night.

"What are we gonna do?" I whispered to myself as I looked onto the horizon hoping that all of this was just nightmare and we were just lying in our beds awaiting the next summer day.

Looking around the beach I could see metal debris and large pieces of driftwood. 

"I guess we could use drift wood." I slowly said to myself as I walked over to large pieces.

Bending down, I grabbed the driftwood and gave it tug, hoping it wasn't to heavy for me too carry by myself. I let out a grunt of frustration as I used all of my strength to try and move the driftwood. Despite my strong arms, the wood barely moved, leaving me frustrated. Already mad that I couldn't move the driftwood, I roughly yanked back on it sending me toppling down on the compact sand as the wood released from where it was attached to wet sand underneath.

"Need some help there?"

I heard somebody question from behind me. Turning around I saw Veronica giggling and smiling at me. She had dark purple circles under her eyes and dried blood coating her deeply cut and bruised leg.

"Veronica..." I started.

"I know. I know. But you need help and nobody else is up."

"Veronica. Betty would kill me if she found out that I let you help. You shouldn't even be up right now. You should be resting and letting your body heal before you do anything. Like no offense, but you kinda look like I walking zombie. Your eyes look horrible and your leg looks like it was mauled."

"Well, I did get attacked by a shark, so...." Veronica trailed off.

I slowly got up and sighed as I looked at Veronica.

"You're not gonna leave me alone unless I let you help, will you?"

"Nope." She exclaimed happily as she gave me a bright smile.

I rolled my eyes at her and laughed a little bit at her response.

"Fine." 

I dramatically sighed.

"Oh, so we're mocking Cheryl now, are we?" Veronica laughed.

"Not really, but now that I think about it, sure. You go first."

Ok, ok. My hair." Veronica whined as she grabbed her hair and widened her eyes. 

"Good one. I know Sherlock Holmes." I said through tears of laughter as Veronica hit my arm and started snorting as she pulled me down with her in a laughing heap.

"I think we should get wood, Veronica."

She opened her mouth to speak but I cut her off.

"And yes, I'm letting you help."

She smirked at me and got up.

"Oh, but I thought you said Betty would kill you." Veronica said with a very sarcastic tone.

"Shut up and just help me."

Veronica giggled a little bit as I grabbed her arm and pulled her up off the sand. 

"Ok." She happily exclaimed which surprised me greatly.

"I just need you to walk around the beach and pick up pieces of drift. Specifically, little pieces."

Veronica sighed angrily, pissed that I told her that she couldn't help me.

"Veronica." I paused for a moment as the expression on her face softened. "I know you want to help. I do understand that, but you should be happy that I'm giving you the option to help, and not just sending you back to camp. I just don't want you to get hurt." 

I looked at Veronica, as tears started to well up in her eyes.

"Hey," I lightly placed my hands on her cheeks and pulled her head up to look at me. " Look at me. I love you, obviously as I friend, but I really do. I want you to be safe and not get hurt. Your leg still hasn't healed properly and if it opens back up, you could be in big trouble. Please just listen to what I'm saying."

Veronica nodded her head and wrapped her arms around me. She dug her head into the crook of my neck as I wrapped my arms around her waist.

"It's okay. You're gonna be okay. We're all gonna be okay. You need to stop worrying. We're gonna get off this island and be back to Riverdale in a couple of days. People will find us and bring us home. You hear me?"

Veronica nodded and pulled away from the hug.

"Now, stop crying and help me get some damn driftwood. I'd rather not freeze to death tonight."

"Sounds like a plan."

Veronica walked a little ways away from me and started to pick up pieces of driftwood that were covered in sand. She shook them off and made a mini pile near the big piece that I was still attempting to move. Out of nowhere, I heard I horrifying scream as Veronica collapsed on the ground. I immediately dropped the end of the driftwood and sprinted over to her. I dropped to the ground, not bothering to move the wood that I fell on top of. 

"Veronica." I exclaimed, horrified, as a sharp piece of wood dripped with her blood on the end.

Blood seeped through my leggings as Veronica's leg gushed with dark crimson liquid that flowed through the sand to where I was kneeling.. Her eyes fluttered closed but opened a few seconds later. I tried to move her away from the wood as I didn't want the wood to rip her leg open any further. Veronica's hand flew up and grabbed my wrist. Her fingernails dug into my wrist as I attempted to pick her up and move her back to the raft.

"Stop."

"Veronica, I have to."

"But-"

"Veronica, I have to move you. I was afraid that this was going to happen, that's why I told you earlier, to be careful. I need to get you back to camp, okay? And I'm not letting you help again unless Betty gives you the ok."

Veronica nodded her head drowsily, as I felt the grip she had on my wrist, loosen. Her head dropped back as blood continued to come out of the wound. I sat her on the ground and gently shook her.

"Veronica."

I shook gently shook her again.

"Veronica." I said much louder this time.

"Veronica! Wake up!" I yelled, as she didn't stir.

"Oh my god. She passed out." I whispered quietly.

"I need Betty. She lost to much blood. Shit."

I looked around to see if anyone had walked onto the beach yet, but there was no one in sight.

"Betty!" I screamed. "Betty! It's Veronica! Help!"

Veronica couldn't die. She couldn't die. Her friends and family needed her. Betty needed her. She was gonna live to see Riverdale again, no matter what.


	5. Chapter 5

**Betty's POV**

In the distance I could hear somebody screaming my name but I pushed the voice away wrapping my arms around...

_Veronica_

My eyes shot open as I realized that she was no longer laying beside me. I could still hear my name being called as I came to the conclusion that it was Josie. I jumped up like I was the flash and ignored Toni and Cheryl as they woke up instantly due to the sound of my shoes hitting the bottom of the raft. I bounded through the trees and raced down to the shore of the beach, to see Josie on the ground holding a bleeding Veronica.

"What the hell happened?!" I yelled at Josie.

Even though I was yelling at Josie, she was relieved to see me.

"I was letting her help and she fell on the wood. It torn the wound back open. I'm sorry."

My eyes burned holes into Josie as she whimpered under my piercing gaze.

"You did what?" I snarled at her.

"I-" She started but I didn't let her finish before Cheryl and Toni ran up behind us.

"Josie, why did you let my girlfriend help you? You're not dumb, so you should've known that she couldn't help. Let me see her."

Josie didn't respond, but nodded and let me take Veronica out of her hands. I lifted her off the ground and turned around so that I was facing Toni and Cheryl.

"Toni, you help Josie with the rest of the wood. You can decide if Cheryl can help. If she does, I recommend you keep an eye on her to make sure nothing happens."

Toni nodded and walked past me with a fully awake and scared Cheryl in her wake. I went as fast as I could to the raft, which resulted in me almost falling quite a lot as I sped through the trees and almost tripped on a branch. I got to the raft and put Veronica down inside of it, relieving my arms from the weight of her body. Thinking about the things I had in my bag, suddenly an image of a first aid kit popped into my head. Sprinting over to the pink duffle bag, I sifted through damp clothes, a Nike hat, a couple pairs of shoes, and my sunglasses. When I reached the bottom of the bag, my hand hit something rectangular. Quickly, I grabbed it and ripped it out of the bag. Sitting in my hand was a first aid kit that looked a little damaged on the outside, but everything on the inside looked perfectly fine. Fist pumping the air, I looked at the first aid kit, happy that I would be able to help Veronica. Swiftly, I spun around and ran over to Veronica. I lightly tapped her cheek to see if she was awake. Her eyes fluttered open, but closed as the sun blinded her temporarily. I moved to wear the sun was on my back and not hitting her directly in the face.

"Are you awake?" I quietly asked as I waited for any movements from her.

"Yeah." Veronica weakly responded.

"I'm gonna need to clean the cut and wrap it with gauze. I would love to be able to stitch the cut closed, but we don't have the proper materials for it, so we just need to use what we have."

Her eyes widened at my words as I finished talking and opened the med kit. I looked back up at her and grabbed her hand as a reassurance technique.

"Hey. Ronnie. You don't need to be scared. You just survived sharks and being stuck in the middle of an ocean during a horrible storm. You should be proud of yourself."

"What should I be proud of, Betty? The fact that I could have died from recutting my leg open with a piece of wood." Veronica looked away from me and pulled her hand away from mine as tears formed in her eyes.

"Veronica, that is not what I meant and you know it."

She still didn't look at me as I tried to confront her.

"I'll make a deal with you." I could see her face soften a bit at my words, but she still refused to look at me. "If you let me do what I need to do with the cut," I paused for a moment so that I could choose my next words carefully. "I will let you cuddle with me and make me do anything for you until your leg is fully healed, but you have to let me deal with cut so it doesn't get infected."

Veroncia looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Really?"

"Yes. You know I don't break promises so I have no reason to break this one."

"Fine."

"Ronnie-Wait, what?"

"I said fine."

"I didn't think it was gonna be that easy. Okay then."

Veronica chuckled a little bit but moved her leg into a better postion for easier acess.

"We can first start by cleaning the blood and getting water."

"Where are you gonna get water from-" She stopped suddenly realizing what I would have to do. "Betty," She warned. "We are not putting salt water in my cut. No. No. No. Do you not realize how bad that would hurt?"

"Veronica, it would clean it though?"

"You said you would let me do what I needed to do."

"I did, didn't I?"

Nodding in response, she sighed.

"Just do it."

"If you want to make it a little bit easier, I can just carry you down to the shore, hold you up in the water, and let your leg soak in the water. We can just stand there. And you can scream as much as you want. It's not like anybodies gonna hear us anways."

"Lets do that then."

"Okay. Let me figure out how I'm gonna carry you though."

I thought about it for a minute, but just decided to carry her bridal style and then once we got the shore, she could stand up and lean back on me. Leaning down, I picked Veronica up bridal style and started walking through the trees. As the trees ended and we could see the water, Veronica started to look a little pale.

"Babe, are you okay?"

"I don't really know."

I felt warm sticky liquid oozing onto my hand so I looked down to see Veronica bleeding all over me.

"Veronica..."

I stopped talking as I ran to the shore with her in my arms. Without giving her time to slowly get used to the water, I put her down in a standing position. After about 3 seconds, her eyes shot open as she felt the sting start. Veronica stumbled backwards into me, giving me almost no time to catch her. Bloody water slowly started to surround us as Veronica tried to push me off her, desperate to run out of the water and back to dry land.

"Veronica!"

She squirmed in my arms as I locked my hands around her waist trying to keep her in the water. Veronica suddenly scratched my thigh with her nails which was enough for my leg to give out, but not enough for me to let go of her. We toppled to the ground in a screaming fit as Cheryl, Toni, and Josie ran up to us, wondering what was going down in the water.

"Get off me!" Veronica screamed at me as I pushed her into the water.

"No! Veronica, you need to let the cut get cleaned! If you would just cooperate this wouldn't be so hard!"

She continued to struggle in my grip as I flipped us over. I sat up, put her in my lap, and locked our ankles together, preventing her from being able to jump up and run. I was prepared to do anything to get the cut cleaned even if that meant restraning her in the process.

"Veronica, I will give you one more chance to let me do this! You hear me! One!"

"No!" Veronica tried to head butt my chest hoping she would knock me backwards, but of course it didn't work.

"That's it!"

I put as much pressure as I possibly could on our ankles forcing them together under the water. I reached one hand around her body and grabbed both of Veronica's wrists, holing them forcefully together. With my free hand I reached down and made sure that her right leg was secured in place. 

"Be careful, Betty!" Toni yelled at me, obviously seeing the uncomfortable position that I had put Veronica in.

"She should have thought about that before she wouldn't stop moving!" 

I placed my hand on the skin around the cut, making Veronica thrash around desperate to get away from my touch. I pulled the cut open with my hand, letting salty ocean water flow into and around the cut. Veronica screamed as if somebody was stabbing her. Tears poured down her face as she tried to break my tight grip on her.

"Betty, please stop! That hurts! Please stop! I'm begging you, Betty! I'm sorry!"

As Veronica's words fell out of her mouth, they reached my ears, making me horrible about what I was doing to her. Suddenly, I let go of her, leaving her crying in the water, too scared and in too much pain to move.

"I can't do it." I muttered. "Josie, can you go get the gauze and a blanket, please?"

"Yep. I'll be back in a minute."

Josie ran off leaving a stunned Toni and horrified Cheryl behind. I pulled Veronica to my chest and didn't let go, despite her hitting me and trying to push me off. After a couple of minutes of this, she gave into my warmth and wrapped her legs around my waist. Tears continued to stream down her face as sobs wracked her body. Her small frame shook as she broke down in my arms.

"I have the stuff you asked for."

"Can you just set it down in the sand? It needs to be somewhere flat."

"Ok. Is right here fine?"

I swiveled my head around to see Josie pointing at the area that she was standing on.

"Actually, yeah. That's great."

Ignoring Veronica's protests as I picked her up, I caried her over to the blanket and set her down. I grabbed the gauze and used the blanket to dry her leg. The wound was still glistening with blood but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier.

"I'm almost done, Ronnie. We can cuddle once I'm done. Okay?"

Tears dripped down her face onto her leg, but she nodded, ready to just be done already. I grabbed the gauze and held the end of it on her leg. Pulling the roll around her leg, she winced at the stinging pain. I did that a couple more times as she had a pained look on her face the entire time. I bit a piece of the gauze, tearing it away from the roll and stuck it to the rest of her leg. Veronica let out a sigh of relief as I stopped pulling on her thigh and put away the gauze. 

"Do you want me to put that back in your bag, Betty?"

"Sure."

I handed her the first aid kit and she trotted away trying to get back to the group as fast as possible. I scooted back on my hands so that I was now sitting behind Veronica. She noticed, which allowed her to lay back. Veronica layed back so that her top half was inbetween my legs and her head was resting on my leg. I played with her hair as Josie returned with panic written all over her face.

"What happened?"

I furrowed my eyes wondering what could have scared her.

"There's...um...ther-there's a leo-leopard back at c-camp." Josie stuttered over her words.

_What the hell did we do to deserve this?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Cheryl's POV**

My breath quickened as Josie spoke those six words. I could hear her clearly, but my brain didn't comprehend the sentence. Blood pounded in my ears as I started shaking my head.

"Cheryl?" Toni questioned at why I was shaking my head.

_Leopard._

"Babe, are you okay?"

_Leopard._

Toni tried to reach out and grab my wrist, but I flinched away in panic.

"Cheryl, you need to calm down. You're having a panic attack." Toni softly said.

_Leopard._

"Toni, why is she having a panic attack?" Betty asked concerened and curious.

"Leopard." I whispered.

"What?" Betty asked me.

"Leopard." I said a little louder.

"What are you talking about...wait, Cheryl, are you talking about the ski trip we took last year?" Toni carefully asked me.

I didn't nod my head, but she knew what I was thinking about.

"What happened, Toni?" Veronica asked.

"In a quick summary, me and Cher were hiking a mountain and we came across a snow leopard."

_**Flashback** _

_**"Toni, what the hell is that?"** _

_**"Just back up slowly, Cher. Don't freak out or anything."** _

"We tried to slowly back up before it saw us, but it picked up our scent and turned around."

_**It turned around and saw us. The leopard let out a low growl.** _

_**"Cheryl, run." Toni grabbed my wrist but I was frozen in place.** _

_**"I'm scared." I whimpered as tears ran down Toni and I's faces.** _

_**"It's gonna be okay, but we need to get out of here."** _

_**"Okay." I cried as Toni started to pull me away from the gaze of the leopard.** _

**_Suddenly, the leopard sprinted at Toni, making me do something I never thought I would do._ **

"We attempted to go back down the mountain, but the leopard beat us to it."

**_I pushed Toni out of its path just as it roared and tackled me to the ground._ **

"It was coming for me, but Cheryl pushed me out of the way and it pinned her to ground instead."

**_I could hear Toni screaming at me, but I ignored her tr_ ** **_ying to keep the leopard from biting my head off._ **

"Cheryl tried to give me a speech about how much she loved but I didn't let her, because I knew we weren't going to die."

**_"I love you Toni!" I yelled over the growling of the white leopard._ **

**_"Cheryl, I'm not gonna let you die! You're gonna get out of this alive!"_ **

**_"You're my world Toni Topaz. I will love you forever, whether we get out of this situation or not. You are an amazing girlfriend and I'm so happy that I got a chance to meet you."_ **

**_"I love you to and that's why I'm doing this!"_ **

"Lucikly, I just happened to have my knife on me. I stabbed its side and it ran off."

**_Toni reached down and grabbed a knife out of her pocket. She ran at the leopard and stabbed its side. It howled in pain and jumped off me, bouding up the mountain._ **

"She's had nightmares almost every night since and her hearing the word leopard teriffies her." Toni quietly finished still standing infront of me.

As a roar erupted from the trees, I stumbled backwards on my feet trying to get away from the source of the noise. My head started spinning as I couldn't concentrate on anything. 

"Cheryl, can you hear me?" Toni asked concerened.

Toni grabbed my wrist, despite my flinching at her touch.

"Hey, guys. I'm gonna take her away from the area. Veronica you wanna come? I know you can't exactly do anything, because of your leg, but you can help me with Cheryl if I need it."

"Sure. I really don't wanna be here when that thing comes into view."

Betty and Josie stayed behind to make sure that if something happened they could warn us in advance.

"Baby, I need you to take deep breaths." Toni slowly said.

Veronica stood behind her not wanting intervine.

"I can't." I choked out as my breaths were ragged and short.

"Yes you can."

I shook my head as I tried to again pull away from the two girls.

"I'm just gonna carry her. We can somewhere right on the outskirts of the trees."

"Fine with me." Veronica sadly smiled at me and Toni.

Toni ignored my protests as she picked me up around my thighs and pulled me to her front. I stopped struggling knowing that trying to get away from her would prove impossible. I wrapped me arms around her neck and put my head on her shoulder. My breathing was still short, but the heat of Toni's body for some reason slowed my heart rate down. As another long roar ripped through the leopards throat, I slammed my eyes shut and whimpered loudly into Toni's neck. Her fingers tightened on my thighs, but I didn't care about the slight pain. All that mattered was that there was a leopard near us and there was no where safe to go.

"It's okay." Toni whispered as my finger nails dug into her back.

"We can stop here." Veronica quietly said.

"Looks good." Toni responded.

Toni sat down next to Veronica, but she kept me attached to her front, wanting me to feel safe. 

I leaned back so that I was still pushed into Toni's front, but that I could see my suroundings. We were surrounded by humongous trees, lots of shrubs, and leaves covering the ground. I played with Toni's hair as she just smilied at me.

"What are you smiling at, TT?"

"You of course, babe."

"Why?" I scoffed at her.

"Because your adorable."

I smirked at her, my heart rate and breathing slowed down.

"I know, but you're really cute to."

Toni chuckled at my response as I just continued to play with the ends of her hair. Just as I thought everything had died down and we were safe, a long, loud growl sounded from the camp, followed by screams.

"Cheryl! Toni! Veronica!"

I scrambled up as my eyes widened and my breath caught in my throat. Running through the trees I halted to a stop as Betty yelled at us from across the beach.

"Run! Get out of there right now! It's not safe!"

Just as she finished screaming at us, Veronica and Toni came up behind me with panic stricken faces.

"It's coming your way!" Josie and Betty screamed at us from across the beach as the leopard busted out of the trees on the far side of the beach. 

"Oh my god." I whimpered as I stood there, to scared to move anything. 

It felt like I was back on top of the mountain. The leopard's coat rippled as it sprinted at us. Its golden and black clad body bunched up as muscles worked to get to us as fast as possible. I made a quick descision as I sped out of the trees onto the beach. If it didn't see us before, it definitely did now. The leopards head snapped towards me as it directed it's body at me. 

"What are you doing?!" Toni and Betty screamed from a distance behind me.

"I'm saving your ass's!" I yelled back.

I heard a distanced growl from behind me as I sprinted across the beach, desperate to out run the leopard.

"Run, Cheryl! Fucking run!" Betty screamed at me as I picked up the pace running like I was trying to escape death, which in this case I actually was.

"What ever you do, don't look back!" Toni shrieked. Me being stupid, did just that which resulted in me almost loosing my balance as I could now see the black glistening eyes of the leopard. I turned my head back around as I continued running. After a couple of seconds, I barely glanced over at the girls to see that Josie was holding some kind of camera, capturing my movements and my escape from the jaws of death itself. My fiery hair flew behind me as I took a sharp turn around in the sand making my way towards a large piece of driftwood. I raced towards it with the increasing speed of the leopard behind me. As soon as I reached my destination, I grabbed the large piece of wood and spun around my heels. The leopard ran straight into the sharp side of the wood, driving it through the leopards head due to impact. It roared in pain, but bled out quickly on the ground. I heard screaming as the girls sprinted at me, horror and concern written all over their faces.

"Cheryl..." Veronica trailed off.

"That was the most brave thing I have ever seen. You just sprinted across a beach with a leopard right behind." Betty finished Veronica's sentence.

"Why did you do that, Cheryl? You couldv'e died." Toni said to me as she tightly wrapped her ams around my waist pulling herself into me.

"But I didn't and nobody else did either."

"You have a point. I never thought I would see the Cheryl Blossom stranded on an island, sprinting across a beach, trying to get a leopard away from her friends." Veronica said amused.

"Josie, were you videoing it the entire time?" I asked curious to why she had the camera.

"Yes?"

"If you did that's great because I wanna see it. It's probably really cool."

A smile formed on Josie's face at my words.

"In that case, I did record. All of it."

"Well then, I think we should try to go back to camp and seek out any damage. We also need to take a quick nap." 

"Agreed." Veronica said with an exhausted voice.

We all laughed as we slowly made our way back to camp. For some odd reason, in my gut, I felt like we would be here for a while. 


End file.
